Craig Rice, Rona Kramer and the Death Penalty

The Baltimore Sun and Maryland Moment of the Washington Post both provide interesting profiles of Del. Craig Rice (D 15) and the very personal reasons for why he supports retention of the death penalty. Del. Rice supports the bill which emerged from the Senate which keeps the death penalty but raises the standard of evidence required for it.

The quote from Senator Rona Kramer (D 14) from one of the articles is particularly telling as Sen. Kramer was apparently the key vote for the amendment offered by Sen. James Brochin (D 42) which passed and made clear that repeal was not going to pass the Senate:

Sen. Rona E. Kramer, a fellow Montgomery County Democrat, said the delegate raised "an extremely important argument."

"Sometimes, the death penalty goes beyond wanting to make the family feel better," Kramer said in an interview yesterday. "It can be about making them feel safe and secure. The safety and security of witnesses - that hadn't really been raised before."